


The Death of Barrold J. Bluejeans

by MercuryHomophony



Series: The Reaper Family [4]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Family Feels, Gen, Grief/Mourning, He gets better, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-07
Updated: 2018-02-08
Packaged: 2019-03-14 22:43:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13599978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MercuryHomophony/pseuds/MercuryHomophony
Summary: Not all exits are made equal - not all of them are permanent. It's still important to take the time to mourn.--Barry Bluejeans passes away, and starts on the final step to becoming a full-fledged Reaper of the Raven Queen. His family waits for him.





	1. Discuss

“What’s it like to die?”

Kravitz looked up from his book, caught off guard. “Excuse me?”

Across the living room, settled out on the couch, Barry looked back. “What is it like to die?”

The two of them stared at each other for a moment - Kravitz, soft and a little stupefied by the sudden question, Barry, steady and earnest and curious.

“It’d think you lot would be the experts on that, given your rap sheet,” he said, buying himself time to think.

Barry laughed lightly. “Yeah, you’d think so, right? But… I don’t remember what happened afterwards.” He tapped his fingers against the arm of the sofa, thoughtful. “Sometimes, I wonder if those afterlives were different, but I don’t remember any of them, and I don’t think anyone else does, either.”

“But you know what _this_ plane’s afterlife is like.” Kravitz was puzzled on where, exactly, this was coming from. “And as for this side of it… well, you experienced that plenty looking for Lup, right?”

Barry frowned, his brow creasing behind his thick glasses - thicker, now, with nearly forty years of declining eyesight. “Not really. I mean - I didn’t actually _die_ , you know?”

Kravitz waited for him to elaborate, and when he didn’t, sighed. “I’m afraid I don’t, no.”

“I’m just saying, I never - never really died, without… you know.” He wiggled his fingers ominously. “Going… lich-y.”

“Oh, you’re talking about how you never came over to visit your future brother-in-law,” Kravitz joked with a smirk. It fell flat, though, when Barry’s expression didn’t change. “Is something wrong?”

Barry shrugged. “Not really,” he said, but his fingers kept tapping with some nervous energy. Kravitz stared flatly at him, slowly raising an eyebrow archly as the silence dragged on. It only took a moment for the human to break. “I’m… a little worried,” he said, slowly. “About dying.”

Kravitz snorted, and that got a small smile from Barry. “That’s a common problem, Barry.”

He laughed quietly. “Yeah, it sounds a little silly saying that when I’m already sort of a Grim Reaper,” he admitted. “I’m just a little worried - in the last, say… hundred years, about, every time I died, I popped right back up, you know?” He shrugged. “Perks of being a lich, and cloning yourself. But now that the world is saved - _and_ , I’ve given up necromancy, don’t give me that look - I’m not sure I’ll know how to - to die. And stay dead.”

Kravitz nodded, thoughtful. “This has been on your mind for a bit, hasn’t it? Are you planning on dying anytime soon?”

Barry rolled his eyes. “You don’t have to put it so _tacitly,_ Kravitz, it won’t hurt my feelings - I’m _old._ I’m - gods, what, almost seventy? Not including the century-and-change before we beat the Hunger, but still.”

“You look great for seventy,” Kravitz said mildly.

Barry scoffed. “Maybe, but it’s still seventy. Humans generally don’t live much longer than that.” He sobered, somewhat. “I’m really lucky I had the time I did, honestly. I’ve been lucky in a lot of things.” He folded his hands, settling further back into the couch, contemplative. “One good thing that came out of the Hunger, I guess.”

“I’d say there are a few other good things, too,” Kravitz replied, thinking of his own love. Barry laughed at his expression.

“Taako?”

“Taako.” He could tell by the look on Barry’s face that he was thinking of Lup, and they lapsed back into a comfortable silence for a few minutes.

Barry broke it. “Hey?”

“Hm?”

“How…” Barry started, strong, then pulled back, suddenly hesitant. “Actually, no…”

“Go ahead,” Kravitz said, somewhat bemused by all the whiplash this conversation had been giving him. Across the room, Barry took a breath.

“You- you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

“Alright.”

Barry wrested with himself a moment longer, before blurting out, “What was it like when _you_ died?”

Kravitz stopped - stopped breathing, stopped pumping blood, even stopped thinking for a moment as his mind went blank, save for one memory that he had avoided revisiting for many, many years.

“It was… unpleasant,” he said, dragging out the words. “The circumstances of my death were…”

He trailed off, and Barry’s expression went from curious to mortified and embarrassed. “I- shit, Kravitz, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

“It’s alright,” Kravitz cut him off, feeling almost disconnected from himself. “You didn’t know… besides, you said I don’t have to answer, and- my circumstances weren’t your real question.” He blinked slowly, felt himself come back to himself-

_at the back of their minds, they felt a cold comforting whisper as the Raven Queen set Hers aright_

“Crossing over. That’s what you’re worried about.” He wasn’t sure where this flash of insight had come from - maybe from recalling the turbulence of his own passage. Barry knew what it was like to die, physically. He knew what awaited him on the other side. But, traveling over…

Well. That was different for everyone.

“It… took less time for me than for others,” he said carefully. He couldn’t bring himself to look at Barry, unsure what he’d make of whatever expression he saw there. “Our Lady stopped me, briefly, to- to offer me my job. Before she hurried me through the process of becoming a Reaper.”

“What kind of process?” Barry asked, voice soft in respect of his reverie.

He remembered the process, in that dark empty space between planes. He remembered - it was -

He shook himself with a sharp breath, and his lungs ached with the suddenness of it. Barry had moved, coming to stand in front of him, looking concerned. “Kravitz?”

Kravitz looked up at him. “It’s - different, for everyone,” he said, not answering Barry’s unspoken question. “It was… something of a trial, for me. But it was exactly what I needed to become Her Reaper.” He reached for Barry’s hand, and the human took it - starkly, vividly warm with life against his own suddenly chilled skin. “When you pass on, it’ll be the same for you… it may take a little longer, since She won’t need you out on the filed immediately - She has Lup and I for that. But She’ll give you exactly what you need to fully become a Reaper.”

They held each other’s gazes, Barry searching his eyes with some apprehension, Kravitz returning it with his own steady, collected gaze.

Neither knew how long it had been before Barry gently squeezed Kravitz’s hand. “And here, I thought we were out of surprises to find,” he quirked, but his voice was soft, solemn, even as he smiled. Kravitz returned it.

“Never underestimate the Goddess of Death,” he said. “She’s more dramatic than the four of us combined.”

That finally broke the mood as Barry laughed, loud and genuine.


	2. Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry and Kravitz antagonize a necromancer.

“YOU CAN’T DEFEAT ME!”

“Statistically unlikely, given the amateurish setup you’ve got here.”

“Barry,” Kravitz scolded, materializing from the shadows. “Don’t antagonize the target.”

“I can’t help it if it’s true!”

Kravitz scoffed, unable to keep the smirk off his face. “It’s unfair, not everyone had a hundred years to master the dark, nefarious arts.”

“And now you’re using my background against me, _again_ ,” Barry bemoaned as he dodged a blast of magic. He too, had a note of humor in his voice. This exchange wasn’t a new one, after fifty-some years of back-and-forth between them.

“I’M GOING TO LIVE FOREVER,” the necromancer shrieked, “AND YOU TWO _WON_ _’T STOP ME!”_

“Again - unlikely.”

“Barrold.”

“Kravitz.”

As the necromancer aimed another shot at Barry, Kravitz took his chance to swing. It was an easy job - a young dragonborn necromancer with a nasty attitude and a worse mug, who’d slipped their radar earlier, had done too much too fast, and ended up a lich. Fortunately, he didn’t have the experience to back up his power, and it showed.

It wasn’t _really_ a two Reaper job - Kravitz could have handled this one on his own, and he had in the past. But, Lup was busy on her day off with Taako, and Barry had been interested in seeing what this guy had done to become a lich so quickly, and so had asked to tag along.

He’d been doing that more often recently - just tagging along.

Kravitz’s blow struck, and the lich’s energy flared as it spun, shrieking at him. Barry danced in, pulling a trick Kravitz had taught him, a little smoke and mirrors to use the target’s distraction while he struck, then danced back. Kravitz could see him breathing heavily, sweat beading along his brow.

Carefully, Kravitz kited the lich towards a narrower part of the cave - it would be easier to keep its attention focused on him instead of Barry this way, and sure enough, the lich’s inexperience showed again. It charged the Reaper, unwittingly trapping itself in an easy tunnel.

“Well, this is _hardly_ a challenge,” he remarked. Somewhere behind him, Barry laughed, somewhat wheezily.

“Who’s antagonizing the target now?” he asked, coming up beside him, scythe at the ready. In front of them, the lich screamed, necrotic energy sparking off it wildly.

“Well damn. I think we’ve upset him,” Kravitz remarked, and the two of them moved in for the kill.

Kravitz, of course, had been doing this for far longer than Barry had. Still, he respected Barry’s knowledge (if not always his applications for it), and while working as a Reaper, Barry had developed something of a clinical expertise. So, Kravitz kept one eye on him as the lich started to flag, and when Barry gave him a subtle nod, he choked up on his scythe and charged.

The lich shrieked as Kravitz swung his blade through its core, and he felt the crackle of its arcane energy convulse, drawing inward. He recognized the maneuver - a common one, from young unstable liches, to simply unleash their power in their death throes - and quickly blinked out of the plane in response, watching from the Ethereal plane as the magic flowed harmlessly through the space he’d been.

He blinked back in the second the magic has dissipated and snagged the crazed soul before it could flee and cause more damage, sending it through to the Eternal Stockade with a well-practiced swing of his scythe. Job done, he turned to congratulate Barry-

His dead blood froze.

He hadn’t worried about Barry escaping that blast of magic. He’d trained them on their evasive skills. A lot of liches pulled last ditch attacks and although most of them were merely unpleasant for Kravitz, they were something he knew could be potentially fatal to Barry or Lup.

A potential, it seemed that had become a quickly arriving reality.

Barry gave him what was probably supposed to be a smile, but necrotic energy seeped through him, grey veins of magic washing out the color in his skin. He slumped, starting to sink to the ground, but Kravitz caught him before he got there, and helped lower him more gently.

“Shit,” he said, and Barry laughed, rasping.

“Yeah,” he agreed, looking at his hand, where the veins were slowly becoming grey-blue beneath his skin. He flexed his fingers, and the two of them watched as the color returned momentarily before being chased away again. “Lup’s gonna kill me.”

Kravitz laughed at that, despite himself, despite the sobering reality before him. “We should give her a call…”

Barry was shaking his head before he’d even finished his sentence. “I don’t want to bother her. She and Taako haven’t spent any time together in a while.”

“I’m pretty sure she would understand the interruption of you _dying_ , Barry.”

“Not if she’s having a cook-off with Taako,” he joked back, choking on the end of his sentence and coughing rather than laughing. Kravitz winced.

“You’re taking this awfully well.”

Barry snorted. “It’s not like I don’t have experience with this, Krav,” he reminded him. “I had plenty of opportunities to die in Lup’s arms. Besides, I’m what- almost eighty, now? _Eighty,_ Kravitz, jeez...” Kravitz could feel his attempt to shrug in his arms, aborted halfway with a wince of pain. “I figured at this point it was either this, or old age.”

“We could get you to a healer,” Kravitz said.

“You and I _both_ know that wouldn’t work at this point,” Barry said bluntly. “Don’t lie to yourself. Besides, it’s okay.” By this point, most of the color had left him, his usually ruddy skin pale and lifeless. His breath was rough, and longer drawn than usual, rattling in his throat. “I’ll see you guys again soon, right? Just, uh…” he trailed off, eyes falling closed for a second, and Kravitz waited - he wasn’t quite done yet. Barry’s eyes opened again, slowly. “Can you stay here, till I get to the other side? Make sure I don’t go…”

His voice grated off, but Kravitz knew what he was asking, and nodded. “The Raven Queen will see to that,” he told Barry. “I’ll be here to make sure of it.”

Barry nodded once, weakly, eyes falling shut again. His lips moved one last time, in a bare whisper.

“Tell Lup… I’ll see her soon.”

And with that, the Lover was gone.

 

Kravitz cradled his body, watching as the soul slowly disentangled itself from the body. This was a process he couldn’t interfere with, but he hadn’t lied - he’d stay, and make sure things went properly.

As the soul freed itself of its material connections, a wave of crypt-chilled air swept over the room, stirring the curls framing Barry’s lifeless face, and The Raven Queen was there. Kravitz bowed his head before Her, and She nodded Hers in acknowledgement, before extending one hand, long, black-taloned fingers beckoning. Barry’s soul, glowing red, lifted from his body, and Kravitz watched as Her touch soothed the flares of magic from him, gently severing the arcane connection that had kept him bound for so long to the cycle of life and undeath. Kravitz knew there would be a new connection keeping him tethered; now, it needed to be forged.

She pulled him in close, tucking him under one wing like a mother with its chick, and fixed Kravitz with a commanding stare.

“I’ll let them know he’s gone,” he said, perplexed at the sorrow that cracked through his voice. “D-don’t let him be long?”

She inclined her head imperiously. _He will take as long as he needs. No more, no less._ Her other hand reached out, cupping his face, and he leaned into her touch, into the taste of the magic that sustained him. Her Raven mask was impassive, but he could hear the rueful smile in her voice. _A luxury I could not offer you, my Reaper._

“It’s no matter,” he said truthfully. “It was what it was.”

She nodded. Her voice became wryer. _Try to keep Lup from breaking down the Stockade doors, until he_ _’s ready to return,_ she said, and her crowing laughter at his look of mild terror echoed throughout the cavern as she returned to the Astral Plane, Barry’s soul in tow.


	3. Delay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They wait.

Lup and Taako both knew before he got home. He wasn’t sure how; Lup wasn’t a full Reaper yet, and she didn’t have the full array of soul-sensing powers that came with it. She shouldn’t have been able to know or feel Barry’s soul leaving the plane.

He didn’t question it. The two of them had been fueled on their love for one another for so long, he wouldn’t have been surprised at any power their love could manifest.

She was distraught when he arrived, clinging to Taako like a lifeline, her brother’s arms wrapped tightly around her, anchoring her. They both looked up when he arrived, but one look at his regret-filled expression sent Lup diving back into Taako’s embrace, a fresh wave of tears streaming down her face. He stood at the door, hesitant, until Taako invited him over with a tilt of his head.

The family mourned.

 

—

 

A week went by. Kravitz explained, as much as he could, the final process of becoming a Reaper. There was a lot he couldn’t say - both because of the variances in each Reaper’s experience, and because of the sheer inexplicable weight of trying to explain the process that simply… choked his words before he could say them.

Lup eventually stopped asking, and Kravitz stopped trying to explain, only offering that Barry would be back as soon as the Raven Queen was done.

Another week passed. Lup threw herself into her bounties with a recklessness he hadn’t seen since she’d started reconnecting with her brother again; and, anytime she wasn’t on the clock, she was with Taako, baking or talking or doing twin-activities that Kravitz was not privy to.

Every now and again, too frequently to be casual, she’d ask him again how much longer Barry would be. Kravitz didn’t have an answer.

A third week dragged itself along, each day seeming longer than the last. Lup was _dangerous_ to bring on missions, now - her magic was wildly on the fritz with anxiety, and the risks she took brought her too close to following Barry for Kravitz’s and Taako’s comfort. They tried to find other things to bring her out of it, offered the best platitudes they could.

“He’ll be back,” Taako whispered into her hair, keeping her in a tight embrace. “He always comes back, right?”

“This isn’t just another year, ‘ko,” she replied, voice muffled in his shirt. He hummed a few lines of an old lullaby from their childhood.

“I know, Lulu. But you know Bird Momma. She’ll get your jean-husband back to you, I know it.”

The fourth week, during a rare fit of sleep for Lup, Taako cornered Kravitz.

“Babe, you’ve got to give me _something_ here,” he said, voice bordering on desperate. Kravitz took him in - his usually glamor-perfect appearance dispelled, red-rimmed eyes from crying and soothing and lack of sleep, his clothes ruffled and unkempt.

“Love…” he started, but Taako huffed, hearing the answer in his tone.

“Fucking…” He sighed, running a hand through his curls and cursing with a hiss when they tangled around his fingers. “Fuck! Kravitz, just…” The anger seeped from him suddenly, and he sagged where he stood. Kravitz stepped forward to support him, and Taako wrapped his arms around him, shoving his face into his husband’s suit. “Just, tell me it’s gonna be okay, that this isn’t some sort of… shitty long con your Mom’s got going.”

The implication cut Kravitz to the quick - his heart ached to think that Taako worried this was some trap for two of the most important people in his life, and he wanted to assure him forever that he’d never allow something like that. He pulled Taako in. “It’s going to be fine, Taako. He’ll come back, as-”

“As soon as The Raven Queen’s done with him,” Taako sighed in unison, pressing his face further into Kravitz’s chest. “I know.”

If Kravitz noticed the wet spots on his suit, he didn’t mention it. It was better to let Taako grieve his own way.

 

It was at the end of the fifth week that Lup picked up her scythe again. Kravitz didn’t see her leave - he was out working - but he felt his goddess call him back to the Eternal Stockade.

He stepped through the rift before those giant doors, and turned to face Lup, in her work regalia, tear tracks steaming off her cheeks as she glared past him with fiery determination.

“Lup…”

“Please, I have to see him, Kravitz,” she said, still not looking directly at him. “You said you were back in a _day_ , and it’s been nearly two _months_.”

“It’s different for everyone, Lup,” he started, the words old and echoed in his mouth, and her gaze snapped to him. He managed to keep from flinching.

“How many Reapers have you seen go through this, Kravitz?” she asked.

“Only myself.”

“And you were back _in a day,_ ” she repeated, waving her scythe in emphasis.

“It was… a unique situation.”

“Stop saying that,” she snapped, drawing herself up. “I want to see him.”

He held his hands out. “Lup, you can’t. For _his_ safety as much as yours. I know you’re missing him now, but-”

A quick side-step kept him from getting knocked back by her attack, and he reluctantly summoned his own scythe, putting himself defensively between her and the door. Her grip on her weapon tightened, knuckles white.

“I’m sorry, Krav, but I’m going to see him,” Lup promised.

“You will,” he agreed. “After Our Lady brings him through this transition.”

She leapt forward, and he stood to meet her.

 

“Lup, you have to trust Her,” he said, standing between her and the door still. He wasn’t unscathed - he’d had to retreat to his skeleton form halfway through the battle after a particularly nasty slice - but he wasn’t running on weeks of exhaustion.

Lup stood with her back to the Astral Sea, fresh tears of frustration boiling down her cheeks as she stared pleadingly at him, her body shaking with the effort it took to keep standing. “Kravitz, _please_ ,” she whispered. It wrenched his heart to hear that desperation in her voice. He took a careful step closer to her, and when she made no more move to attack, he let his scythe dematerialize.

“You’re both going through a lot,” he said, trying to soothe her. “It’s hard, I- I can’t even begin to imagine what you’re feeling, Lup.” He could try, he had heard their hundred-year journey, the story of their love, had seen them together for fifty years, their devotion for one another always smoldering under the surface when it wasn’t blazing within them, and he could try to imagine himself in Lup’s place, with Taako out of reach, and it was- unthinkable. “But Barry has to do this alone. You have to trust him, too.” He was within arm’s reach of her now, and as flesh melted back over his form, he carefully opened his arms in an invitation. “You trust his love for you, right?”

“Of _course_ I do,” she said, as if no other answer existed.

“Then trust that he’ll find his way back to you,” Kravitz said.

Lup slumped against her scythe, searching his face for answers, before vanishing her weapon with a sigh, leaning forward into his embrace.

“Gonna kick your ass if he’s not back by next week,” she threatened only a little toothlessly.

“Absolutely,” Kravitz replied, mentally bracing himself. “C’mon, let’s go see Taako.”


	4. Domicile

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Their Bluejeans boy comes home.

Halfway through the sixth week, and halfway through dinner, there was a knock at the door. Lup leapt up from the table and was out of the kitchen before Taako or Kravitz could even blink. Taako, fork halfway to his mouth, had frozen in surprise, but Kravitz recovered quickly, getting up and making his way to the front hall, ignoring the small “ _Hey-_ ” from Taako behind him.

The front door was open, and he peered out, wary.

“You fuckin’ _nerd,_ I missed you so much!” Lup was crying, hugging Barry close as best she could from where she’d pinned him. He hugged her back just as fiercely, tears trickling down his face - younger again, as if he’d never aged past thirty.

“I know, I know, I missed you too,” he laughed, pulling away just far enough to kiss her, something she returned tenfold.

“’Bout time, Barrold,” Kravitz heard to his right. Taako stepped up to lean on him, arms crossed, toes tapping. “Had to wait till we were all eating dinner, huh?”

“Oh, shove it,” Lup said playfully, just as Barry perked up and said, “Dinner?” Lup gasped.

“Barry J. Bluejeans, you can’t blow me off for a dinner _Taako_ made.”

He grinned back at her. “I’d _never_ ,” he promised, swooping in for another kiss. Next to Kravitz, Taako feigned gagging.

“Ugh, geeze, get a room, you two,” he sniffed, turning back inside. Bigby’s hand stopped him, shoving him none-too-gently into the hug, taking Kravitz with him.

“Oh no you don’t, Taako, you missed him too!”

Barry took advantage of Lup’s spell to sling an arm around Taako, who squawked in token protest, like he wasn’t hugging his brother-in-law right back. Kravitz, meanwhile, got sort of squished in next to Lup, who pulled him into the group hug with no remorse.

Across from one another, Barry and Kravitz met eyes, for just a second. Barry gave him a wan, understanding smile, and a slight nod. Kravitz returned it with his own - relieved, endlessly relieved, and equally understanding.

There was chatter over Barry’s absence, what they’d done while he’d been gone, questions about what he’d been through (that he deflected, until they realized not to ask), and plans, so many plans for what to do now that he was back.

Later (much, _much_ later, because Lup had six weeks of missing Barry to get out of her system), Barry caught Kravitz, and pulled him aside.

“Hey, Krav, I just wanted to say - thanks. For everything.” He smiled, the expression not quite making his eyes. “You were, uh, right. It’s… it’s what I needed.”

Kravitz smiled back. “It’s what I could do, Barry. You’re alright, though, right?”

Barry nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, it’s a lot, but… but I had the time.” His expression shifted, brow furrowing in not-quite-pity. “I’m… sorry you didn’t have that time.”

Kravitz shook his head. “It was what it was,” he said simply. “And if things had been different… well, maybe I wouldn’t be here now. And I wouldn’t change that for anything.”

“BARROLD! KRAV-CAKES! Get your butts in here, no one’s leaving the house until we’ve seen every single Fantasy-Disney movie in the vault!” Taako hollered from the living room. Neither of them could help their laughter.

“We’ll be right in, love!” Kravitz called back, before gesturing to Barry. “It’s good to have you home.”

Barry grinned. “Thanks, Kravitz. It’s good to be home.”

**Author's Note:**

> All of these fics are slowly leading up to a long-fic that may get... pretty dark. Weird how a series that was supposed to be mostly fluff and family feels has become so angsty...


End file.
